Strangers
by HazelEyes8D
Summary: Riku returns to Destiny Islands only to find that everything is not how it used to be. Even though he missed the first two years, Riku is forced by his mom to attend high school. Sora and Riku can barely acknowledge each other. But both boys miss each other more than they'd ever like to admit... SoRiku, possible AkuRoku on the side, amongst other shippings.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello c: **

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters used, obviously :P**

**That's basically all I have to say here for right now, thanks for clicking on my story!**

**Hope you enjoy! c:**

* * *

Riku took a deep breath, steeling himself against his car door in the slight chill of the morning air.

It had been years since he was last home. Destiny Islands had become foreign to him. Familiar, but foreign. Things had changed. Mostly the people.

Riku barely recognized people he was once friends with. He'd only been gone two years. But they were a rough two years.

17.

Riku was now 17.

He had been 17 when his mom asked him to come home.

He had been 17 when he finally cleared his mind, for good.

He had been 17 when he became himself. Again.

Only two years had passed. Yet everything was _so_ different.

Riku had only seen people like Selphie, and Tidus - he even saw Kairi once.

He hadn't seen _**him**_ yet though.

Riku had only arrived back to Destiny Islands three days ago.

Just in time for the start of the school year.

Today was the first day, and Riku was already late due to fighting with his mom over the matter.

He had missed the past 2 years. He only had 2 years left of high school (if he went). There wasn't much point.

Especially since he didn't really have any friends anymore.

Riku felt like an outsider in the one place he thought he would always be at home.

But, after much arguing and offensive comments, Riku had gotten into his car and drove to the high school.

He was standing outside in the parking lot, leaning against the vehicle while examining the menacing building in front of him.

Classes had already begun.

He was already late, so why bother showing up anyways?

Sighing, he began to walk towards the steps into the school.

Once inside, to his immediate right was the main office where he had to register.

Riku entered the office where a secretary was typing away at her keyboard.

Awkwardly, the silver-haired teen shuffled forward and cleared his throat.

"Oh! You must... You must be Riku," said the lady, taking in Riku's appearance. "Wow, how you've changed... You've grown up."

Riku stared confusedly at the woman.

Did he know her?

He was about to voice the question when she cut him off.

"Your mom called, saying you would be late. I've been close with your mother the past few years while you were away. We've never met, but I've seen many pictures and heard many stories about you. I'm Sora's aunt."

Riku winced instinctively at the use of _**his **_name.

He had successfully avoided _**him**_ since he got back, and nobody seemed to mention _**him**_ around Riku.

But he was bound to end up seeing the spiky haired boy sooner or later. He couldn't avoid him for all of eternity.

Riku greeted the secretary and was only half aware of the directions she gave him as a piece of a paper was shoved into his hand and forced him out into the deserted school hallways.

He shifted his aquamarine eyes to the paper, which was a timetable.

Riku let out a frustrated sigh as he made his way to room 109 - Math.

He was already dreading the rest of his day, trying to invent ways to avoid _**him.**_

Little did Riku know that the spiky haired brunette was doing the exact same thing.

_OoooOooo_

Sora let out a long sigh as he sat staring into space, allowing the monotone voice of his English teacher, Aerith, to lull him into a state of vertigo.

Just as Sora's eyelids were beginning to feel heavy, Roxas elbowed the brunette in the side.

Sora straightened up in his seat to find all eyes on him.

"Sora. It's the first day and you're already falling asleep in class. Not a good start to the year." Aerith said, warmly yet with authority.

Sora nodded slightly, allowing the wandering eyes to return to their teacher before he turned to his best friend. Roxas was just smirking, his bright blue eyes - eyes identical to Sora's - filled with amusement.

The brunette shook his head at the blonde before returning most of his attention to class.

Key word - most.

His mind was a little too preoccupied to be reminded of structures of short stories and themes.

Next period was lunch.

The sophomores had the same lunch period as the juniors.

Ri - No, _**that person, **_was a junior.

_**That person **_had only been back for three days and already Sora was bending over backwards to avoid him.

There had been a couple incidents in which Sora had seen that familiar shine of long, silver hair but the brunette had retreated immediately.

It was almost funny how once Riku and Sora were the definition of inseparable but now they can't even look at each other.

Most of the time, Sora was happy - no, _happier_ without _**that person **_in his life anymore.

But, if Sora was to be completely honest with himself...

He missed him.

So. Fucking. Much.

It was weird.

Sora knew everything about _**that person **_- his secrets, his fears, his favourite things, what he loves, what he hates... Literally everything. And vice versa.

And now they're just strangers.

Now, they pretend they've never even talked to each other when in reality each boy knows the other like the back of his hand.

Sora thought he hated change before, but never had he hated something as much as he hated the loss of his best friend.

* * *

**Welp, there's the first chapter up.**

**I'll try and get the next one up asap, but sometimes I forget xD**

**But please, leave me a review and let me know what you think so far! **

**I'd love to hear your thoughts c:**

**-HazelEyes8D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello!**

**I apologize for how long this update took. Hopefully it won't happen again!**

**I've been having a bad case of writer's block lately. Hopefully if I just push past it, it'll go away.**

**Anywhos, thanks to those who reviewed, favourited, and followed****!**

**OH - and I forget to mention that YES THIS STORY IS AU. I should've made that more clear, my bad :P**

**Hope you enjoy! c:**

* * *

"Riku! Get up! NOW." Riku's lovely mother yelled for the billionth time that morning.

Riku responded by groaning into his pillow.

He had made it through the first week and only experienced one brief and incredibly awkward encounter with _**him.**_

Riku had been going down the front steps when _**he **_came dashing around the corner in pursuit of a blonde boy.

However, when _**he **_noticed Riku the spiky haired boy had all but tripped and landed on his face by Riku's feet.

If Riku hadn't have been blocked by said fallen boy, he would have continued on his way.

But it all had happened too quickly for that.

_**He **_had awkwardly stood up, barely meeting Riku's eyes while muttering a polite apology before picking up his fallen books and awkwardly shuffling away from the encounter.

That happened just this past Wednesday, and since then, Riku had been going out of his way to ensure that _**he**_ wasn't anywhere in sight before proceeding to walk quickly to his car and go home.

Riku's mother yelled again.

Riku rolled over onto his back, wincing as he slowly opened his eyes to the harsh morning light.

It was Friday. The last day before the weekend. He could do it. He could get up and get his lazy ass to school.

But... Sleep was just so tempting...

"Riku! I'm not asking you - I'm telling you to get up and get to school. NOW." His mother said, unnecessarily loud as she had barged into his bedroom, allowing the door to hit the wall with a 'bang' that might as well have been a gun being fired.

Riku dragged himself into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes, while muttering, "M'kay, I gettit, 'm awake..."

Satisfied, his mother left to allow Riku to get ready.

As soon as the woman left his room, Riku flopped onto his back and sighed.

Today was going to be a long day.

He had about 15 minutes to get out the door in order to get to school on time.

Riku stood, threw on a pair of black skinny jeans and a white t-shirt before heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth as he tried to tame his bedhead.

His silver hair was messily sticking out in places, but it proved to be too much to handle and since Riku really didn't give a flying fuck what he looked like, he went downstairs.

Just as he was opening the front door, his mom appeared.

"You should grab a sweater. They're calling for rain and a possible thunderstorm."

"Mom, it's just water, I'll be fine."

"Just take a sweater Riku."

Riku stared at his mother. Was she really doing this right now? He was 17 now. He didn't need to be told what to wear.

"Please." Was his mother's pleading word.

Riku sighed.

"Fiiiine."

He glanced into the living room and saw his burgundy hoodie lying on the couch. He grabbed it and shoved it into his backpack before saying a quick farewell to his mother and leaving his house.

OoOoO

Riku raced to his locker, grabbed his books, and just slid into math class as the bell rang signalling the start of the school day.

"Ah, Riku, good to see you've made it on time for once."

Riku gave his math teacher, Ansem, a half smile with a small nod, acknowledging that his teacher had said something.

It was kinda weird, now that Riku thought about it - Destiny Islands High was the only school he knew of that insisted their teachers be called by their first name.

Then again, maybe it was due to the fact that it was small town and everyone knew everybody anyways.

The silver haired teenager made his way to his seat, which was in the second last row. He was seated right in front of a flaming redhead guy, who Riku was pretty sure was named Axel or something, and behind a blonde haired boy with some weird mullet thing going on. His name was something that started with a D. Devon? Damon? … Dillon? Riku couldn't remember. And didn't really care either.

Riku wasn't paying any attention at all to the lesson going on, so when Ansem called on him for an answer Riku was completely lost.

"Uh..." Riku mumbled, trying to figure out where they were. He quickly surveyed the board - trigonometric ratios review to lead into this years advanced work.

Ansem repeated his question.

"Which ratio should we use?"

Riku took a moment.

"Uh... Sine?"

Ansem looked at Riku, seemingly torn between being annoyed and being impressed.

"Very good. Yes, we use Sine..."

Riku tuned out the rest of Ansem's droning voice.

He had missed the first two years of high school math. It was a miracle he was able to understand anything in this class. But, Riku was always bright for his age. So that probably helped.

Riku felt a push on the back of his chair.

Slowly, he turned to face the obnoxious redhead who had just kicked his chair.

The flaming headed boy just stared at Riku, smirking.

"What?" Riku asked impatiently.

"You seem to get right under Ansem's skin."

"And...?"

"Nothing. Just... I heard you completely missed the first two years of high school. So how are you taking a junior level advanced functions math class?"

"Guess I'm just smart."

" 'Just smart' huh."

Riku nodded, looking at the redhead questioningly before going to turn back to his own seat.

"Hey, I'm Axel by the way."

"I'm Riku."

And with that, Riku turned back to face the front of the classroom.

Axel stared after the silver-haired boy, mouthing the boy's name like it was a foreign word he didn't want to forget.

Riku tried to actually pay attention to the rest of the lesson, but gave up when he realized he had missed too much. He'd just have to go home and teach it to himself later, like he always did.

The bell rang suddenly, and Riku made his way to his locker.

As he shut it after retrieving his books, he jumped.

He was suddenly face to face with Axel.

Riku stared at him for a moment before going around him, making his way to his History class.

"You know, you're pretty cool. For a newbie." Axel said, trotting after Riku before falling into pace alongside him.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Thanks." He said with underlying sarcasm.

"You haven't met many people yet, have you? I mean, it is only your second week here after all."

"Believe it or not, I used to live here. So I already know most people."

Axel stopped walking for a minute, before he realized Riku had kept walking.

"Okaay, but you obviously don't know me. Which means you probably don't know my friends either. I mean, there's gotta be unfamiliar faces all over for you."

Riku sighed, knowing Axel was right but not wanting to admit it. Axel seemed very... stand-offish, laid back yet also arrogant and fiesty if you cross him. He just seemed like one of those guys who's all chill until you do something wrong. The type of person in which you never really know where you stand with them.

"Why are you following me, Axel?"

"I wanted to know if you would want to hang out at lunch. I could introduce you to some people, show you around kinda thing. I think you'd fit in nicely with our group."

Riku contemplated it.

It'd be a hell of a lot better than trying to teach himself math in the library at lunch. And meeting new people would help in forgetting _**him.**_

"Alright. Sure."

Axel beamed, flashing a very white smile.

"Sweet. I'll find you at your locker then after class."

And with that, Axel disappeared just as Riku entered his history class.

Lunch would be interesting, that's for sure.

OoOoO

"Hey! I'm Demyx."

"I'm Xion."

"I'm Zexion."

Riku was kinda overwhelmed. Axel had brought Riku outside to the field where many people sat in groups having their lunches.

Riku was feeling like an outsider. Again.

Axel looked up at Riku from where he was sitting.

"Sit down, stay awhile." The redhead chuckled.

Riku sat down, feeling awkward amongst the group of strangers.

Xion was the only girl with them. She was pretty, Riku thought, but definitely not his type.

Axel turned to Riku.

"You should feel honoured, Riku. You're having lunch with the coolest kids in school."

It took Riku a moment to register that he was kidding around, trying to lighten the mood.

Riku laughed a little and looked around at everyone again.

He was kinda startled to find that Zexion was watching him, but looked away when Riku made eye contact.

Then Demyx started attacking Riku with questions: where he came from, where he went for those two years, what were his interests, was his hair naturally that colour or did he dye it, was he single... By the end of lunch Riku felt like they all knew everything there was to know. Or at least everything worth knowing.

Riku felt a lot better having some friends now. He felt he knew them each - to a certain extent, and that they also knew him better. It wasn't near as awkward as it had been at the start.

In fact, it felt like they had been friends for longer than just 30 minutes.

As the group made their way inside and as they passed the cafeteria, Axel stopped for a moment to peer inside.

Axel motioned to someone to come here, and before Riku really knew what was happening a little blonde came bounding over to Axel and attacked him in a hug.

Axel laughed a little, wrapping his arms around the considerably shorter boy and ruffling the blonde spikes a little.

"Hey Roxy."

This was greeted with a punch to the stomach from the blonde.

"What did I say about calling me that?" Said the smaller boy, feigning annoyance.

Axel laughed a little and turned the blonde to face Riku.

"Roxas, this is Riku. Riku, meet Roxas."

Riku stared at the blonde.

His eyes... The boy named Roxas had eyes identical to that of So-_**Him.**_ They had the same eyes.

Riku shook his head a little, breaking his trance.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too." Said Roxas, offering Riku a giant smile.

Riku returned it half-heartedly as the bell rang.

No one made to move.

Riku took the bell as his chance to escape the situation of the boy with _**his**_ eyes.

"I should probably get to class. It was nice meeting you all."

And with that Riku, stalked off to his locker, eager to just go home at the end of the day.

OoOoO

Just as Riku was walking down the front steps to his car, he heard a voice call his name.

Turning, he saw Axel and the others heading towards him.

As they reached him, Axel spoke.

"Hey. We were all gonna hang out tonight and watch movies at my place, wanna join?"

Riku, put on the spot, felt obligated to agree.

"Uh, sure."

"Great. We're all gonna meet up at 5. Here's my address." Axel said as he grabbed Riku's hand and started writing.

Riku just nodded.

"Okay. So 5 o'clock, my place. Got it memorized?"

"Yup."

Axel smiled in response and kept on walking.

Riku continued to his car and drove home just as the rain started to fall.

OoOoO

Riku drove up to the address Axel had given him and turned off his car.

The rain was falling harder now, starting to turn into that thunderstorm his mom had been on about earlier. Riku grabbed the burgundy sweater and put it on before getting out the car.

He made his way up to door and rang the bell, anxiously waiting.

Riku didn't know what to expect from tonight.

But he sure as hell didn't expect to see _**him**_ standing behind Axel as the front door opened.

And by then it was too late to turn around and go home.

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**And that's chapter two!**

**I promise things will pick up in interest in the next few chapters, but for now it's still boring introductory stuff I guess :P**

**Let me know what you think!**

**Constructive criticism is appreciated - flames, on the other hand, are not. c:**

**Thanks for reading! Leave me a review? :D**

**- HazelEyes8D**


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